Spannabis 2015 Cannabis fun for everyone

Spannabis 2015 (Barcelona, March) was once again a combination of great fun and great organisation. Spannabis improves each year, its already Europe's biggest and best cannabis fair, and it just keeps getting better.

This year had more visitors and exhibitors than ever, this was combined with a professional organisation team and plenty of support exhibitors who made sure that there were ample places to eat, drink and smoke. Spannabis caters well for the tens of thousands of visitors that now attend. At the Dutch Passion stand we saw visitors from all parts of the world. Obviously there were lots of Spanish people, but we saw people from all over Europe. There were significant numbers visiting from Russia/Eastern Europe. And we were surprised how many people we saw from North/South America, including several exhibitors.

The Dutch Passion stand at Spannabis 2015. We saw lots of old friends and plenty of new ones

The exhibitors at Spannabis now represent all the different sectors of the cannabis industry. There are always plenty of companies selling grow room equipment such as tents, extraction fans, carbon filters etc. Many home growers take the chance to get a hands-on comparison of the quality for themselves. If you enjoy visiting your local hydroponics store then you will love the choice and diversity of suppliers on offer at Spannabis. Its a one-off chance to really see all the suppliers for yourself and for most home-growers shows like Spannabis are a great experience. Cannafest (Prague, each November) is another recommended European cannabis show.

Above. Our friends at Crazy LEDs saw lots of interest in the LED grow light technology

Below. Clark French and Alex Frazer of the United Patients Alliance. Photo courtesy of Dale from Grassroots The Cannabis Revolution

As well as grow room equipment suppliers there are lots of other things on offer at Spannabis. Some companies specialise in miscellaneous grow-room equipment such as sunglasses and automatic watering/environmental control systems. Others focus on measurement tools such as pH/EC meters, remote plant monitoring systems, CO2 enhancement systems and just about anything else you could imagine. Plenty of companies offer their own hydroponic equipment and novel growing systems. There are always the major nutrient companies present, and of course there are plenty of companies that are dedicated to bongs, pipes, vaporisers etc. Perhaps the biggest focus of the show is still grow-room equipment. Of course you will usually see all the better quality seed companies present. This year Dutch Passion had a special Spannabis promotion of ‘Spannabud’ (Orange Bud x Ultra Skunk), which completely sold out and was really popular especially with the local growers. We may try a similar offer again next year.

For Dutch Passion it was a really busy show. We had 8 staff at the show and at times we needed more. Lots of people took the chance to buy their seeds fresh from our stock, and speak to us about the different varieties. We were surprised at how many people came to interview us for their YouTube channels and websites. Over recent years we have seen quite a few trends in seed purchasing. Specifically, we see lots of interest in CBD-rich cannabis seed varieties from medical growers. CBD-rich cannabis varieties are becoming the preferred option for many medical growers, CBD gives the cannabis a new dimension in pain and symptom relief for many growers. We also see some recreational growers preferring CBD-rich seed varieties, these growers prefer the long-lasting soothing body stone and find the ‘high’ a little bit more comfortable/pleasurable and a little less intense than traditional THC-rich varieties. We also saw lots of interest in autoflowering varieties, many self-sufficient home-growers find that they can grow more cannabis in less time with AutoFems, and they can do so without compromising quality. These days we sell roughly equal numbers of traditional (photoperiod) and auto varieties, so its fair to say that AutoFems have never been as popular with our customers as they are today.

Above & below. Numerous TV crews were at Spannabis filming for various websites and local news

Frisian Duck was another surprise best seller at Spannabis, this is the unique Dutch Passion feminized photoperiod hybrid of Frisian Dew which grows with webbed leaves. Even experienced cannabis growers have found that this variety is hard to identify as cannabis thanks to the weird leaf shape which looks quite unlike anything you have grown. Lots of outdoor growers bought some Frisian Duck seeds for their 2015 back garden/greenhouse/guerrilla grow. We were also pleased to be awarded 1st Prize in the Champions Cup for our new THC-rich variety called ‘The Edge’ which recently beat all our other varieties for THC content. What made this award even more of a surprise was that it came so soon after we released this variety. The Edge is an easy-to-grow Skunk selection, she will be popular with those that like really strong homegrown.

Whichever part of the world you come from there will be a cannabis expo nearby at some time this year. If you haven’t had chance to visit one yet you might be pleasantly surprised at how much fun it is to spend a day or two indulging yourself with time spent relaxing in a cannabis friendly atmosphere.

Dutch Passion will be back at Spannabis in 2016, and in the meantime you will find us at Cannafest Prague (November 2015) and Expoweed (Chile, November 2015).

Seed type

Dutch Passion advise their customers to reassure themselves of local applicable laws and regulations before germination. Dutch Passion cannot be held responsible for the actions of those who act against laws and regulations that apply in their locality. Cannabis seeds should be kept as collectible souvenirs by anyone in an area where cultivation of cannabis is not legal.